Merkel has not issued an ultimatum to the UK over free movement, but there is growing German frustration at David Cameron’s approach to the EU

An article in the German news magazine Der Spiegel generated headlines in the UK press over the weekend when it appeared to suggest Germany would rather let Britain leave the EU than accept changes to EU free movement rules. Imke Henkel writes that while the reaction in the UK to the comments has been somewhat overblown, there is nevertheless growing German frustration at David Cameron’s approach to the EU

We should replace the complicated, bureaucratic and error-prone expenses claims system with a flat-rate allowance

Maria Miller’s resignation was brought about by yet another expenses scandal. However, the real scandal, argues Imke Henkel, is that politicians are not being paid adequately for their work and instead have to go through bureaucratic hoops in order to claim expenses. The entire expenses claims system should be reformed in-line with the German and French flat-rate allowance so as to avoid any future issues

David Cameron’s increasingly strong opposition to Jean-Claude Juncker runs the risk of alienating Angela Merkel

British Prime Minister David Cameron has strongly opposed the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as the next President of the European Commission and has called for a formal vote to be held on the topic if no consensus can be reached. Imke Henkel writes on the broader relationship between Cameron and Angela Merkel. She notes that while Merkel also has reason to oppose Juncker, the UK’s opposition has made it increasingly difficult for her to back another candidate without seeming to give in to British demands. Ultimately Cameron must display a better appreciation of Merkel’s political approach if he is to avoid alienating her from his proposed plan for EU reform

Support for Brexit is no longer a minority viewpoint on the British left

In recent years, Euroscepticism has frequently been associated with the right of the political spectrum in the UK, but a number of figures on the left have also voiced their support for the country leaving the EU. Imke Henkel writes that while criticism of the EU’s handling of the Eurozone and migration crises is understandable, such problems should be used as the basis for stronger engagement from the British left at the European level

German public opinion is caught between scapegoating Greeks and love-bombing them

What do German citizens think of their government’s handling of the Greek debt crisis? Imke Henkel writes that the German media has helped to perpetuate a view of the crisis which pits ‘lazy southerners’ against hard-working northern European taxpayers. However she also notes that this interpretation has generated a backlash from many Germans who are keen to emphasise the value of Europe as an ideal

The witty Briton stands up to the European bully. How a populist myth helped the British Eurosceptics to win the 2016 EU referendum.

The British press has been reporting a uniquely distorted image of European affairs and institutions for decades. This article argues that the twisted narrative some British media offered about the relationship between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe was as influential as were the discursive strategies which they employed. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to investigate three sample texts, and drawing on Jack Lule?s and Roland Barthes? theories of myth, I find that two of these texts construct a populist myth of a witty British people eternally alien to the EU. This narrative ultimately contributed to the vote for Brexit

German election preview: four things to look out for as Germany goes to the polls

Most observers expect Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU to win Sunday's federal election in Germany, but the outcome of the vote will still have a major impact on the composition of the next government and the future direction of both Germany and the European Union. We asked four of our contributors for the key stories to watch as the results come in

Comparing journalism cultures in Britain and Germany: confrontation, contextualization, conformity

Many British newspapers proclaim strongly partisan political and moral positions, with headlines such as ?Get Britain out of the EU.? In contrast, German newspapers, during national events such as the refugee crisis, often take on the role of reflective observers. Previous comparative research has shown a link between journalists? output and professional attitudes. Using data from the Worlds of Journalism Study, this article analyses the professional attitudes of British and German journalists (N=1475) across three constituents of journalism culture: societal, epistemological, and ethical. Our analysis shows significant differences in all three constituents. We conclude that British journalists conceive of their professional role as more confrontational to those in power than their German colleagues. We also find some evidence that German journalists believe it more important to provide context and analysis ? aiming to assist audiences in their civic roles ? and that they are more likely to conform to professional codes, although only in general terms. Our findings contradict some earlier comparative studies that claimed a more passive role for British journalists. Our findings may also hold interest for others engaged in international comparative research, showing how the two-country comparison can identify, and account for, what is hidden in multi-country research designs

How the laughing, irreverent Briton trumped fact-checking: a textual analysis of fake news in British newspaper stories about the EU

After the British people voted for Brexit in June 2016, the role the media played was intensely debated. However, the research has focused so far on the issues of fake news and biased reporting. This paper will argue that a focus on the role story telling played in persuading voters needs to complement the existing research. The paper builds on insights from political psychology that showed under which conditions misrepresentations of the truth prevail even after they have been debunked. It further uses Roland Barthes? definition of myth as ?depoliticised speech? and Jack Lule?s analysis of archetypal mythologies in news stories to establish the effectiveness of the myth of the laughing, irreverent Briton in fake news stories on the EU in British newspapers, the so-called Euromyths. This insight is highly relevant for the teaching of journalism: Journalism students need to learn both: Fact-checking and to understand why debunked lies prevail

Destructive Storytelling: Disinformation and the Eurosceptic Myth that Shaped Brexit

This book offers a new approach to understanding disinformation and its destructive impact on the democratic function of the news media. Using the notoriously false reporting of EU policies by the British press as a starting point, it utilises Critical Discourse Analysis to examine the linguistic properties of false news stories and to understand how they function as myth in Roland Barthes’ sense. The disinformation is essential for the impact these news stories had as it provides the simplification which creates the blissful clarity of myth that Barthes described. As myth, the false news stories depoliticised a political argument and naturalised the claim of antagonistic British-European relations. Henkel shows how news stories used disinformation to articulate a Eurosceptic myth of the feisty, witty Briton who stands up against the European bully. Her main argument is that the disinformation contributed to the Brexit vote because, as myth, it transported an ideology. Henkel argues that the Brexit debate and the news reporting that preceded it for decades can be understood as a case study for how political journalism becomes democratically dysfunctional. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of journalism, media and culture, political communication, and Critical Discourse Analysis